Like A Fish Out Of Water
by BeColourful
Summary: Nicole Snow just wants to get through her school years quickly and quietly, becoming friends with the Marauders was definitely not on the agenda. Especially since she has a secret that she'd do anything to protect... Marauder Era, Sirius/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Differences.

I stared out of the window as the Hogwarts Express hurtled away from platform nine and three quarters and out of London. I watched the country scenery flash past the window and pushed a lock of my brown hair out of my eyes. The compartment door slid open.

"Nicky!" squealed Caroline as she walked into the compartment with Angela and Marnie behind her. I inwardly grimaced at the nickname. It was Nicole. I plastered a smile on my face and nodded at them as Angela sat next to me and the other two sat across from us. Caroline immediately launched into –what I thought was – a farfetched story about a boy she had met over the summer. I smiled and nodded at the right moments. I raised my bright blue eyes to the ceiling when she started talking about how good of a kisser he was and counted the cracks. I got to five before she turned on me. "What about you Nicky?" I looked at her questioningly. "Any boys over the summer? Any on the radar for sixth year?" I quickly shook my head. It's best for me to avoid boys because of... what I am.

"Oh come on Nicks" joined in Marnie "You're the best looking girl in our year by a long shot, you get asked out all the time – surely you must like someone?" I noticed Caroline's green eyes flash at the first part of this sentence and felt embarrassed. "No I really don't" I replied softly. I flinched at the sound of my voice. It was hideously perfect. Like wind chimes. They left me alone a while and I pondered Marnie's words. The best looking girl in the year? I hated it because it was true. It may sound conceited but there's a reason for it. A reason even Dumbledore didn't know. My wavy chocolate hair fell to my mid-back, the top few layers curling into loose ringlets were more of a golden colour. My eyes were a bright, piercing blue except for the outer ring of my iris which was very dark and specks near my pupils matched the colour. My skin was not tanned or pale but seemed to glow and was flawless. My dark eyebrows arched beautifully and never needed plucking or waxing. My lips were full and pink and my body was well developed for a sixteen year old. I had a perfectly flat stomach and long legs.

The only reason I was brought into the group was because of my looks. I didn't kid myself it was any other reason, after all, I never really spoke to anyone in first year until Caroline came up to me and insisted I sit with her, Marnie and Angela. We were all in Gryffindor and I shared a dorm with Angela and another girl called Abbie. I might've thought that was the reason they talked to me but I soon realised it was because I turned a lot of boys heads and Caroline worked out that if she was standing next to me then they'd notice her too.

Caroline was a bit of a slut to be honest. But not your typical, fake tan and nails and had too many boob jobs and wore slutty clothes. I mean sure her skirt was slightly shorter than us other three but she really was naturally beautiful. She had long golden blonde hair that curled at the ends and gooseberry green eyes with long eyelashes. She also had a well developed body and flawless skin. But she also went through boys like tissues; although they weren't really heartbroken by the end of it – they'd got what they wanted by that point. Ugh.

Marnie was sort of second in command. She had dyed cherry red hair and near black eyes which made her stand out in a crowd. She was tan and pretty but not really beautiful. She went through nearly as many boys as Caroline did.

And lastly was Angela; she, like me, had been adopted into the group by Caroline because she was 'of good standard' her straight black hair and dark brown eyes made her look a little foreboding but she was actually quite shy and easily the closest to me in the group.

So to sum up; Caroline or 'Care' was a slut and a bitch but knew how to act well, Marnie – 'Marn' was a little less of a slut but the kind of person you wouldn't trust with anything, Angela, 'Angie' was sweet and pretty and I was beautiful and a bit of a trouble maker.

I was also a Syrenka.

Most of you probably have no idea what I just said means and it's understandable; Syrenka's aren't very common. We evolved from Siren's, not the bird-women from Greek Mythology but the Sirens from folklore. The Sirens I am referring to are the ones that were amazingly beautiful, had tails from the waist down and sat on rocks in the ocean, singing to lure sailors over to them before destroying their ships.

You see the differences between Sirens and Syrenkas are that Sirens seek to destroy men; Syrenkas are like humans in that other than falling in love, we aren't generally bothered by them. Sirens can breathe underwater; Syrenkas can hold our breath for a couple of hours before needing oxygen. Sirens are well known but are thought to have died out centuries ago. Not many know of Syrenkas' existence and we're fine with that. The main difference between us though is that our tails only appear when we touch water directly. When we do our legs turn into a beautiful golden tail from the waist down and our clothes vanish, which is why I always keep a golden bikini top handy for when I go swimming.

We have similarities too – We are both extremely beautiful, like Veela's in a way. Our voices are amazing and when we sing it is one of the most beautiful things... So I only do it in private.

My parents died when I was born so I have no way of knowing if my mother was a Syrenka or not, I only knew all of these things because I was adopted by a couple and my new Mother was a Syrenka herself. Apparently I was the first witch-Syrenka since records began but I don't believe that because Syrenkas don't really advertise what they are.

So that's why I'm the most beautiful. That's why I've had to reject half the male population at school. That's why I hate the sound of my own voice. Why I have to go swimming in the lake at least every other night or else I'd dehydrate and face withdrawal symptoms from the water. That's why my eyes are ocean blue. And I resent it more than anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Meeting Marauders

The train finally ground to a halt and we were all changed into our uniform. Caroline was applying some last minute mascara and made us wait on the platform for her. I shuffled my feet and rubbed my hands together because of the cold. Finally she returned looking as good as ever and we made our way to the carriages. We got there just as the last one was closing the door. "Wait!" cried Angie and all four of us broke into a sprint to reach it faster. The door opened again and the person behind it went and sat down and allowed us to enter. Caroline got in first, then Marnie, then Angie and finally me. The old carriage was only designed to hold six people and now it had to accommodate eight as we squeezed in next to the four boys. I leaned over and shut the door and immediately the thing pulling the carriage started to move so I was thrown back into the seat. The boy next to me chuckled. I turned to glare at him and found myself looking at James Potter.

That could only mean one thing. Looking around slowly I realised we had just stepped into the Marauders carriage. Fantastic.

The Marauders were a group of boys in my year who thought they ruled the school, and if you looked at the students reactions to them you would see they technically do. They pulled pranks on anyone they could and hexed people who annoyed them. They found it funny to terrorise Severus Snape from Slytherin and any other Slytherin at that. But they were also known snoops. They knew everything about everyone and everything about Hogwarts and Hogsmeade most likely. So you see the reason I'm terrified of them is that they might find out my secret.

The group of four were led mainly by James Potter and Sirius Black. James had untidy black hair that he was constantly running his hands through to make it messier. He had hazel eyes behind round glasses and was well built from being a Chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Sirius had stormy grey eyes and black hair that fell across his forehead. He was cocky and got around a lot. He played Beater on the Gryffindor team. Remus Lupin was the third Marauder and tried to keep out of the pranks James and Sirius carried out but although he was a prefect he never did anything to stop them. He had dirty blonde hair that was only a little shorter than Sirius' and had blue eyes. Peter Pettigrew was the admirer of the group. He never really participated in the brains side of it but James and Sirius needed someone to clap for them when they did something great. He was a short round boy with mousey brown hair and dark beady eyes.

As I was spacing out Caroline engaged Sirius in conversation, twirling her hair around her finger and laughing when he said something. Angie was discussing some book or other with Remus and Marnie was trying to ignore Peter's attempts of flirting by looking out of the window. Another thing about the Marauders was they were the most 'desired' boys of Hogwarts, even by girls in older years. Everyone knew that James had it bad for Lily Evans however and that she wouldn't give him the time of day. The other three though – well two really, no-one lusted after Peter – were single, good looking and major flirts.

"That's cool right Nicky?" I snapped my attention back to Caroline. She sighed impatiently "You space out way too much, Sirius asked if we wanted to sit with them at dinner" I inwardly started screaming protests but outwardly I shrugged with a non-committal expression and flicked my hair out of my eyes before looking out of the window.

"Don't mind Nicole, she doesn't like talking much" Angie said apologetically to the boys. I rolled my eyes. Understatement.

Soon enough we got to school and I hurried out of the carriage as fast as possible. In my haste I tripped over and as I toppled forwards an arm caught me around the waist. "Careful" Sirius said softly into my ear as he stood my upright. I nodded at him in thanks and quickly started walking to the castle again, my cheeks tinted red and silently berating myself for being so clumsy.

I nearly ran up the stairs and into the entrance hall, dodging around groups of students all talking excitedly. Finally I got into the Great Hall where the four house tables were already starting to fill up. I hurried to the middle of the table and pulled my hair forwards so that it covered most of my face. Everyone knew by now that I didn't date so I hadn't received the bug eyed stares since second year but still.

I played with the water in the goblet in front of me; one of the cool things about being a Syrenka was that we could manipulate water. My fingers hovered over the cup and with a slight twist a whirlpool appeared in the centre and grew outwards, quickly expanding and sloshing onto the table. I stopped and glanced around. No-one was paying me any attention thank goodness.

As my eyes flicked past the doors I internally groaned as I saw Caroline scan the table, spot me and storm up to me, dragging Sirius with her so naturally the other Marauders and the rest of our group followed. They all sat down around me, in the boys' case literally pushing the people near me away to make room. Caroline, Sirius, Angie and Peter were opposite me and I was flanked by James and Remus. Marnie slid into the seat next to Remus silently.

Caroline threw me a big, fake smile. "Nicks hun, what was the rush?" she asked seething. Her grip on Sirius' forearm visibly tightening. He didn't flinch but he did pry her fingers away while she was distracted. I muttered something about getting seats under my breath. "I can't hear you" she simpered, in a false apologetic voice. She knew I hated talking around people. Although she put it down to nerves and not frustration.

"I said I wanted to get us seats" I said loudly and clearly. I hated it when she tried to intimidate me. My voice cut through the air almost melodically. Caroline's stare turned hard. "Of course you did" she growled before turning her attention to Dumbledore who was now talking.

I sighed and paid attention too.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Avoiding People Is Easy When They Don't Notice You're Gone

The next morning I got up at 5am like every other morning so I could use the bathroom first. I ran my bath and after double checking the door was locked I slid into it. My legs gelled together and I closed my eyes. When I opened them again my golden tail was glittering and about a quarter of it lay over the edge of the bath.

It never pained me when I transformed, in fact it made me feel refreshed. But baths always annoyed me. With my tail intact but not being able to use it properly was infuriating. Like sitting curled up in a ball for hours and cramping up but not being able to stretch. I washed myself thoroughly before manoeuvring myself out of the water. I had done this many times before and it was a good thing I had otherwise I would've probably fallen with a thump onto the ground. However, I expertly managed to lower myself onto the towel on the ground and dry myself quickly. My tail separated into two respective legs and shrunk back to their natural size. I carefully wrapped a towel around my wet hair so no water would fall onto my now dry body and changed into the uniform I had brought in with me. When I was done I wand-dried my hair and let it fall naturally around my face.

Turning my attention to the mirror I looked for any blemishes on my face. Nada. I rolled my eyes at myself and grabbed my black eyeliner and outlining my eyes. I always wore my eyeliner. Never heavy but always there. It made me feel a tiny bit more human.

After that I left the bathroom and went down to the common room. It was now half six-ish and no-one else was around. I sighed happily; if the girls didn't see me at all then I wouldn't cross their minds. Out of sight, out of mind. I made my way to breakfast and piled my plate with eggs and bacon. I ate swiftly being the only Gryffindor in the room. There were a couple of Ravenclaws and a single Slytherin but everyone else was still in their dormitories. I went up to the staff table once I was finished and collected my timetable from Professor McGonagall. I scanned today.

Period 1: Potions

Period 2: Charms

Break

Period 3: DADA

Period 4: History of Magic

Lunch

Period 5: Care of Magical Creatures

Easy enough stuff. I went back up to the common room and slipped through several secret passageways to avoid groups of sleepy students going to breakfast.

I soon realised my feet were taking me to the library. I walked through the tall wooden door and nodded to Madame Pince who looked at me with narrowed eyes. Old hag never trusted anyone around her precious books. I wandered around until a certain title caught my eye.

'30 Spells and Hexes For Teens Looking For Trouble by Quasimodo Grunger'

I chuckled. Whose bright idea was it to put that in a school library?

I pulled it off of the shelf and opened it on a random page.

'Tentacle Tirade Charm. For this charm all you need to do is a circling motion with your wand whilst directing it at opponents face and say (or think if skilled with non-verbal spells) "Tentaculas Porisimus"

If the desired effect takes place, your opponent should sprout purple and blue tentacles on their arms, legs and face. These tentacles will last 3 days before fading and will leave angry red sores for a further 2 days'

I laughed. That would be a good one to use in a duel.

Checking my watch I saw I had about 20 minutes to get to my first lesson. As it was Potions I reasoned it would take me 15 to get from the fourth floor (the library) to the dungeons and I could spend the other 10 minutes setting up. I tucked the book into my bag and set off.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Withdrawals Are For Addicts

A few weeks passed and to my horror our group had become a lot closer with the Marauders and I didn't mind being around them as much. I had to constantly remind myself of who they were and what they could find out if I slipped up even the tiniest bit. Girls knew when to let things go – the Marauders didn't.

Angie and Remus were good friends, always studying together or talking about a good book they'd read. They were a couple waiting to happen, I thought whenever I saw them whispering together in class. Marnie wasn't a huge fan of any of them. If she had her way then she'd be with Sirius most of the time; but Caroline was so possessive that she didn't even bother trying. Sirius didn't seem to notice how possessive Caroline was being over him, especially when other girls were around; but you could see the irritation on his face when she would follow him everywhere and not let go of his arm. However, Caroline was gorgeous and I guess he figured he could put up with it as he always flirted back with her and played along with whatever game she thought she was playing.

That left James, Peter and I. Peter was useless. He couldn't say a sentence to me without getting tongue-tied at least three times. If he was good looking I might've found it cute, heck if he had a sweet personality I would've found it cute. But he had this air about him of greediness and looked more like he wanted to eat me for dinner than actually talk to me.

James on the other hand I was becoming closer and closer to, despite my conscious effort to keep a transparent wall between us. So the boundaries were definitely there but he just couldn't see them. At least I had no worries about him being interested in me romantically – he was still as in love with Lily Evans as ever, although she did nothing but push him away.

She was a silly girl; anyone could see how much James was besotted with her except for Lily herself. Although I agree his ego could use a little deflation, James was still quite the catch. He was good looking, funny, smart, sporty and creative. Despite her 'hatred' towards him, she surely couldn't be so blinded that she overlooked all of his good attributes for his few flaws.

So it shouldn't have been surprising that it was harder and harder to sneak off unnoticed seeing as James, Remus and even Sirius seemed to care about me and what I did. More than the girls at any rate. Peter even noticed when I had sloped off to the library because I could hear him squawking about it the minute I thought I'd be out of ear shot.

It was a bright Thursday morning and my alarm was blaring. It sounded louder than usual and the ringing echoed in my head. I had my bath and felt a burning behind my eyes as I transformed. My head felt like it was on fire and when I got out of the bath my legs felt too weak and shaky to walk on. I forced them to though, I was never ill.

As I watched the bathwater drain away I realised what was happening. I hadn't been swimming in four days. I needed the freshwater of the lake or the saltwater of the sea to swim in or I would stay like this for a couple of weeks before I dehydrated entirely.

I had been so focused on not slipping up and monitoring the Marauders that I had completely ignored the need I had felt to jump into the water.

I got dressed and managed to get down to the common room in one piece. My stomach heaved and my vision was slightly blurred. James met me there with a huge grin.

"Hi Nicole!" He practically screamed. Of course he probably didn't scream it, that's just how it sounded to me. He pushed his glasses up his nose and ruffled his already messy black hair. Another thing about the Marauders is that they never called me Nicky. They seemed to realise my distaste for the nickname and stuck to my full name instead and for that I was grateful.

I nodded at him slowly and together we walked down to the great hall for breakfast. James was silent beside me, either deep in thought or sensing that I didn't want to talk.

I sat through the whole of breakfast without even contemplating food. I stared at my empty plate and focused on trying to stay awake and alert. If I could make it through a day, just one day, then I could go to the lake tonight. Every time my brain felt like it was hitting the inside of my skull I reminded myself; one day, just one day!

I closed my eyes slowly and laid my forehead on the table in front of me. I heard people join us and immediately wished they'd leave. I didn't want to have to deal with them today. Luckily they'd only just enough time to grab some toast before we had to head off to classes.

Marnie, Caroline, Sirius, Remus and I had Charms first thing today so I stood up and slung my bag over my shoulder. Swaying slightly as the room spun. Carefully stepping over and away from the bench I followed Marnie and Remus' lead and Sirius and Caroline were next to me, flirting. We were on the fourth stair case when it started to move which was too much for my weakened body. Everything spun and was fuzzy; I couldn't hear anything and beads of sweat appeared on my forehead as I desperately tried to keep my pale hands from shaking long enough to grab hold of the banister. I couldn't find it anywhere and blackness overtook my vision.


End file.
